BELGRADE, July 15 (Tanjug) - Serbian prime ministerdesignate Ivica Dacic said on Sunday that the goal of the new government would be to obtain a date for the start of entry talks in 2012, or in the first six month of 2013, and noted that to that end, Serbia should implement the recommendations put forward by the European Council in December last year.
"In order to get the date, we must implement the recommendations that were published by the European Council in December," Dacic said in a live broadcast on TV Prva.
This also refers to the agreements that the previous government reached in the Belgrade Pristina dialogue, but all other things are yet to be discussed, Dacic said, underlining that as regards the Kosovo issue, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic voiced readiness to engage in a political dialogue, and not only technical one.
It is evident that Berlin is the leading power centre in the EU, which is creating conditions that should be relevant for Serbia, the prime ministerdesignate said.
For that reason, it is important that Serbia pursues 'an honest policy', which means that it should not start resolving the issues at the last minute, and that Serbs should not find themselves in a situation that they do not know what has been agreed, which also refers to Albanians in Kosovo and the international community, Dacic said, adding that in relation to Serbia, Berlin should not move the goalposts.

KUKAN: WE WILL SUPPORT SERBIA ON ITS EU PATH

BELGRADE, July 16 (Tanjug) - On the eve of his Monday meetings with Belgrade officials, MEP Eduard Kukan, head of the EP delegation for South East Europe, announced that the topic will be support for Serbia's EU path.
I will meet Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, prime ministerdesignate Ivica Dacic, and other senior officials. We will discuss Europe, European institutions which have an interest and a desire for Serbia to develop in the EU direction, Kukan said after visiting Vojlovica near Pancevo, around 20km northeast of Belgrade, where he conferred with representatives of The Matica slovenská.
We want to cooperate, help and encourage your new government, so that this path is successful. We will also talk about how to form the government in the best possible way, in order for everyone to live better, stressed Kukan, reports RTV Pancevo. He also said on the occasion that he came to Serbia to meet with the highest state officials chosen at the last elections.
The EP delegation will be received by Tomislav Nikolic at the presidency building on Monday, and talks with Serbian MPs will be held at the Serbian parliament building.
The MPs will also confer with a delegation of the EP's Parliament's Special Committee on Organized Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering, chaired by Sonia Alfano.

DACIC: BAN'S VISIT OF HIGHEST POLITICAL IMPORTANCE

BELGRADE, July 15 (Tanjug) - Serbian prime ministerdesignate Ivica Dacic said on Saturday evening that UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon's forthcoming visit to Serbia would be of 'highest political importance'.
"For us, it is highly important that Serbia presents itself as the state which is stable in political terms, and one of the key factors in maintaining peace and stability in the region," Dacic underlined.
The prime ministerdesignate qualified Ban's upcoming visit as highly important in political terms, regardless of "some parts we are not so enthusiastic about." In Kosovo Metohija, Ban will visit the UN Mission, Dacic said, adding that he had discussed the matter, as well as the protocol of that visit with the Serbian foreign minister.
"His duty as the UN Secretary General is to respect the status which is valid in the UN, i.e. Kosovo has not been recognized as an independent state in the UN," Dacic told journalists.
UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon will tour the Western Balkan region, including Serbia, from July 2026, the correspondents from the territories of the former Yugoslavia accredited in the U.S. learned during the meeting with the Secretary General in New York.
However, the exact date of his visit to Belgrade is yet to be confirmed in New York, whereas the media in Belgrade reported that the UN Secretary General will stay in Serbia on July 2324. From Belgrade, Ban will travel to Pristina, where he will meet representatives of the UNMIK, international and regional organizations, and Kosovo authorities.
While in Kosovo, Ban will also visit the Visoki Decani monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as Prizren.

BAN: SERBIAN PEOPLE SHOULD BE PROUD OF JEREMIC

BELGRADE, July 14 (Tanjug) - UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon said that the Serbian people should be proud of the fact that its outgoing Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic will be presiding over the UN General Assembly as of September this year. In talks with correspondents from the territories of the former Yugoslavia prior to his visit to the region, including Serbia,
Ban said that up to now he had cooperated closely with Jeremic, and that he is one of the foreign ministers of the UN member states with whom he conferred most often.
The Serbian people should be proud of the fact that such a prominent figure will preside over the UN General Assembly. I had cooperated closely with him, we respect each other and I am looking forward a new chapter in our close cooperation as of September, the UN Secretary General said.
He added that in his capacity as the UN General Assembly president, Jeremic should act beyond the Serb issues and from the perspective of the UN agenda.
When asked by a correspondent of the Kosovo TV to comment on Jeremic's statement that "Kosovo would become a UN member state only over his dead body", Ban said that Jeremic had not delivered that statement in his capacity as the newly elected president of the UN General Assembly, but as an official of the Serbian government.
The UN membership is a matter that would be decided upon based on the recommendations of the Security Council and adopted by the General Assembly, Ban said.
The UN Secretary General announced that he would visit six countries and Kosovo, but stressed that his visit to Kosovo would be in line with the UN SC Resolution 1244. Ban will tour the region from July 2026. He starts his tour in Slovenia, and ends in Bosnia Herzegovina.

ASP: ABSURD TO EXPECT SERBIA TO RECOGNISE KOSOVO

BELGRADE, July 16 (Tanjug) - Swedish Ambassador in Serbia Christer Asp stated that it would be absurd to expect Serbia to recognise Kosovo's independence and that nobody is asking for this since five EU countries did not wish to do so either.
Nobody is expecting or asking Serbia to do so in order to be granted EU accession, but Belgrade is expected to achieve good neighborly relations, the Swedish ambassador stated in an interview for the Monday edition of the Belgradebased daily Politika.
He explained that representatives of Belgrade and Pristina will discuss electricity, telecommunications and flyover permits and added that the topics of the technical dialogue would be more difficult than the ones which have been already agreed on and are being implemented.
However much resolution of problems may be important, Stockholm believes that achievement of a longerlasting sustainable solution calls for some sort of political talks on a higher level. President Nikolic expressed the willingness to meet with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga and this is a very positive signal, Asp said and noted that northern Kosovo and Pristina should set up a dialogue.
According to him, Sweden wants to see Serbia join the EU as soon as possible because this would have a positive influence on the development of the entire region. He added that Sweden believes Serbia could get the date of beginning of talks with the EU in December.
We still have September, October and November before that moment, and if the new government sends positive results, this will be sufficient time to achieve progress and improve relations with Pristina, Asp said and added that later on, political talks would have to be conducted between northern Kosovo and Pristina, simultaneously with the Belgrade Pristina dialogue.